Miami Dolphin Player’s Wife and NFL Critic Arrested in Viral Video

September 27, 2015

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As if the Miami Dolphins didn’t have a bad enough day today on the field, Pro Bowl player Brent Grimes now has to deal with his wife being arrested by the Miami-Dade Police Department in a video going viral taken outside SunLife Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida earlier today.

The Miami-Dade County Police report omits four of the ten officers who were in the immediate vicinity and doesn’t state the underlying law or ordinance Grimes violated to give probable cause for an arrest, except for the officers’ unsupported claims that they gave a lawful command which wasn’t obeyed.

Miko Grimes is an outspoken sports radio show host on Miami’s 560 WQAM Radio who has taken on the NFL before via twitter accusing the league of being callous to domestic violence and other issues.

Grimes tweeted an epic rant to the league in January calling the NFL “shady and corrupt”, and now at the first NFL home game for her husband’s team, she’s been arrested for an unclear crime of “walking into a restricted area.”

Few people who’re NFL insiders speak out against the league, which has endured a seemingly never ending series of controversies off the field about player conduct and on the field about the health hazards of playing professional football.

An NFL official who wished to remain anonymous, because you know, critical journalism is scary, said this summer at the start of the team’s training camp that Miko Grimes “scared the hell out of him,” with her words about the NFL’s concussion problem.

Her husband Brett Grimes isn’t speaking to reporters yet, as the team announced earlier tonight.

Miami-Dade police accuse Grimes of two 3rd degree felonies for assaulting an officer and resisting with violence as well as misdemeanor disorderly conduct – the most common “contempt of cop” charge often misused, meaning that someone used “fighting words” to cause an immediate breach of the peace.

So pardon the feeling of cognitive dissonance as we read the police arrest report accusing truth teller and radio host Mrs. Grimes of assaulting a police officer, resisting an officer with violence and disorderly conduct (see below).

Miami-Dade Police accusation that Grimes entered a restricted area right in front of the end of the main entrance gate of the team’s SunLife Stadium seems pretty dubious judging by the heavy flow of traffic through the area in the video.

As someone who attended this particular game today, and many Dolphins games over the years, I’ve never seen a restricted area in that part of the stadium.

Even if an area was restricted, wouldn’t a player’s wife have access to those spaces?

Local sportscasters aren’t too concerned with the arrest of a local colleague, since criticizing the NFL isn’t in vogue for most local newscasters.

Crazy that Miko Grimes is getting more buzz than Joe Philbin. Worst video I saw all day was that game, not the arrest.

The below still photo was tweeted by someone nearby, which again doesn’t indicate any form of restricted area – or why there are so many Miami-Dade officers in that area.

The YouTube video below was recorded from the opposite perspective, with the citizen journalist who shot it having his back turned to the stadium while shooting.

https://twitter.com/umshelly/status/648311714795102208

The arrest was uploaded to YouTube before the game was finished, but only 55 seconds of footage exist – and that after a Miami-Dade police officer already had their knee on Miko Grimes’ back.

Per this writer’s experience on the scene today, at the next gate to the north, there were outsized lines to get through gate security just prior to game time today, but those lines were behind the barricades, not in the street where you see the officers.

https://twitter.com/AndySlater/status/648317606567538688/photo/1

Police claim that Grimes tried to enter a restricted area, and they claim that they gave her a clear verbal command that she was walking into a restricted area. When she continued walking, the “off duty assignment” Miami-Dade officer’s police report says that the officers immediately tried to arrest Miko Grimes, but according to officers she pulled away.

Without video of that part of the incident, the report is nothing more than “he said-she said” quality, and Mrs. Grimes is still being held in custody, so we don’t know her side of the story yet.

Officers then escalated the situation by giving loud commands to “calm down” while Grimes said things like, “fuck you cops” according to the officers’ reports – which would not be out of character with the constitutionally protected, salty language in the video.

Eventually the officers report says they “redirected” Miko Grimes to the ground which is cop speak for using serious physical force which might injure a citizen.

It’s still unclear from the report what, if any, actual law Miko Grimes broke by walking through a crowded stadium parking lot towards the ticket gates.

At that point, the video begins with officers on top of Grimes as she screams in pain and says, “Get off my fucking neck” and then repeats, “Are you fucking serious?” a couple of times as she’s surrounded by three officers in uniform, two of whom are bike patrol as noted by their cyclist helmets.

Seven other Miami-Dade officers stood guard as the violent arrest took place. Apparently, the officers were unconcerned with other people walking through that area and numerous pedestrians streamed freely through the ‘restricted area’ as the video was recorded.

That’s a total of ten police to arrest one woman.

The police report only lists six officers on the scene.

After the end of the 55 second video recording, that’s when Miami-Dade police accuse Miko Grimes of head butting an officer. At this time, we have no physical or visual evidence to back up that statement or or the rest of the officers accusations that Grimes continued to physically struggle.

Miami-Dade Police Department says that a press release is forthcoming, but it’s unlikely that it will note any significant evidence since that department is just about to adopt body cameras.

Both pages of the arrest report are noted below, but it’s still unclear why police had probable cause to arrest her in the first place.

Ed. Note: We have redacted the personal information displayed in this document being the date of birth, home address and phone number.